Archive for General
Complementary and Alternative Therapy and You
Posted by: | CommentsScience has proven that utilizing complementary and alternative therapies can be effective for many different illnesses and diseases. Often these treatments can be combined with physician guided therapies and can result in better outcomes. When people talk about complementary therapies what exactly do they mean? These treatments can include herbal therapy, vitamin and mineral supplementation, acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic care, probiotics, homeopathic treatments, massage, meditation, prayer, and exercises therapies such as tai chi. These are generally not scientifically proven but many people have found them to be of benefit and some have been used for thousands of years.
Tai chi incorporates graceful, gliding dance-like poses. Simply watching others doing tai chi can be relaxing. Tai chi is often described as “meditation in motion” because it promotes serenity through gentle movements — connecting the mind and body. Tai chi was originally developed in China as a form of self-defense, and it is a graceful form of exercise that has existed for some 2,000 years. Practiced regularly, tai chi can help you reduce stress and enjoy other health benefits. It can help keep your muscles loose and toned.
Acupuncture and acupressure act in the same manner. Based on Chinese medicine and the belief that chi flows through your body, and that blockages of this chi can cause illnesses and disease, acupuncture and pressure help release those blockages and allow the energies to flow throughout your body in a health way. Acupuncture uses tiny needles that are inserted into the skin, and may also utilize electrical currents. Acupressure uses massage type pressure to promote the same benefits without needles. These complimentary therapies are helpful with stress relief, pain management, and health promotion.
Massage is great way to relax and de-stress. Massages are portable, easy to do, and can be useful for many different problems. Musculoskeletal pains can be treated effectively. Many like to have massages after workouts to help relax their muscles. They can help alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion. Massage can help with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays. They can enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body’s natural defense system. Massages help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts. It can also lessen depression and anxiety, and can improve circulation of blood throughout the body.
Meditation and prayer are similar because they focus the mind and are spiritual means of communicating with a higher power. Effective meditation can lower blood pressure, help with stress, decrease the sympathetic nervous systems response to emotional triggers, as well as helping you sleep. Research has shown that people who pray regularly are less likely to become ill and that when they do, they tend to recover faster. Interestingly, not only does prayer seem to have healing effects upon the people who pray, it also appears to benefit those who are prayed for by others. Prayer can relieve stress and improve mental function.
Don’t forget that foods can be medications: Probiotics, and herbal therapies aren’t regulated by the Federal Drug Administration and are considered to be food products. There are many herbal remedies available. It is important that you discuss herbal products with your doctor as many of them can interact with medications you may be taking. Preventing interactions and side effects is important. Some herbal treatments can be helpful in preventing nausea, and may be tempting for expectant mothers to take. Some of those same herbal treatments can cause spontaneous abortions. So knowing what you are doing when it comes to herbal medications is important.
Vitamin and mineral supplements help improve health and can prevent many illnesses. Adequate vitamin C can prevent scurvy and can help prevent colds. Adequate B vitamins can help improve moods and can boost your metabolism, giving more energy and can prevent anemia. Iron also helps prevent anemia. Vitamins A and E are great anti-oxidants and can help prevent cell damage. Vitamin A is great for your vision. Calcium and Vitamin D are great for your bones and can help prevent bone loss. Vitamins supplements, if taken as recommended, don’t cause any adverse reactions and should be a part of your health regimen.
Explore what these complimentary therapies may do for you.
Ten Tips For Happy Breastfeeding
Posted by: | CommentsMy name is Julie Cottle from NaturalTransition.com and these are my Top 10 tips for breastfeeding a newborn. There are many more suggestions available at my site.
1. Make sure you are comfortable. Whether you choose to feed lying down or sitting up make sure you are comfortable and will be able to remain comfortable if you have to stay there for an extended period of time. Some mothers choose to sit in a rocking chair or up in bed with pillows behind the back.
2. Make sure you are have some breastfeeding clothes that open at the front well enough to allow you to hold your baby close to your breast. Better still, go topless while you are learning to breastfeed. This has many advantages. It provides close skin to skin contact with your baby which boosts those warm fuzzy feeling hormones which will make lots of milk.
3. Hold your baby close and remove any wraps or excess clothing.
4. Make sure you baby’s entire body is turned towards you so that the hips, tummy and chest are against you.
5. Gently touch the baby’s mouth with the nipple. Your baby will open its mouth instinctively when you bring the nipple to it. This is the rooting reflex.
6. Some mothers find it helpful to support the breast with the opposite hand as the baby attaches. If you do this make sure that your hand is well away from the areola so as not to get in the way of the baby’s mouth.
7. Encourage your baby to open the mouth nice and wide.
8. As you brush your nipple against the mouth, your baby will open wide for the breast. Avoid moving the breast or chasing the open mouth. Hold the breast still and the natural rooting reflex will help your baby to find the nipple. Just wait for the open mouth and bring your baby nice and close. The tongue will come forward and you baby will latch on. Most of the time this ensures a good, natural attachment. If you have trouble or feel unsure, ask for help.
9. Bring the baby to the breast rather than the breast to the baby.
10. You might find it helpful to support your baby behind the shoulders as you bring it to the breast in quick, gentle motion.
For most women at some stage or another breastfeeding is extremely challenging. If you are finding it difficult it is important to seek help from a reliable source early and to keep asking for help until you feel confident.
You’ll find many more breastfeeding tips at my site http://naturaltransition.com.
If you are having any difficulties with breastfeeding or just need some encouragement, it can be a tremendous help to speak with a breastfeeding counselor, you can call and talk with an Australian Breastfeeding Association counselor by calling 1800Mum2MUM from anywhere in Australia. If you are in another part of the world, contact your local LeLeeche League to find a local breastfeeding counselor who can provide you with this support. You can also e-mail me for help and support, I’d love to help. Simply visit my site at http://naturaltransition.com
Nursing Job Cuts – Counting The Cost
Posted by: | CommentsWith the country in economic turmoil, and both the government and the opposition talking of public spending cuts, it seems inevitable that public sector workers will be the first in line to be cut. Despite recent announcements that the UK is now technically out of the recession, the country is far from recovering just yet, and the job market is still crashing with the unemployment rate hovering around 8%.
So, are nurse jobs and others within the healthcare system safe? With staffing difficulties arising before the recession kicked in, there was hope that maybe nursing would be seen as a secure career to move into, and that more people would choose to train in the profession. However, as within the private sector, the recession has bitten back, and the NHS needs to make savings of £15bn- £20bn by 2014. In a report leaked to the Health Service Journal, the government was advised to cut the NHS workforce by 10% over the next five years to make the savings needed. The government says that it has rejected this advice, nevertheless, it seems that recruitment freezes are occurring nationwide, putting current staff under strain and preventing newly qualified nurses from starting their careers.
Nursing Times conducted a survey which showed that a high percentage of those surveyed had experienced cost controls and cuts within their trust as a direct result of the recession, with almost half stating that their trust had a freeze in recruitment. This figure was highest within the community nursing sector, with just over half of those surveyed stating they had experienced recruitment freezes within their workplace.
With these cuts being implemented, nursing jobs are becoming ever more pressurised, with sickness and maternity leave not being covered sufficiently and overtime being discouraged or banned altogether. Some nurses have reported that their teams are at “breaking-point”, and under pressure to see more patients in less time and to discharge them as early as possible. They are also finding that they are underequipped, again due to cost cutting.
Unison head of nursing, Gail Adams said the figures obtained by Nursing Times were of no surprise and stated that “funding cuts were among the top five concerns for NHS workers, with fear of losing their jobs topping the poll”.
So what is the solution? How can the NHS make the savings required of them? UNISON Head of Health, Karen Jennings, said that there is a need to “listen to staff who know where the real savings can be made. Working with staff to improve productivity is the way forward.” It has been suggested that savings could be made by paying less for branded prescription medicines and by bulk-buying other supplies. Savings could also be made by NHS organisations sharing support activities such as human resources. However the savings are to be made, there is a need to protect nursing jobs, to maintain the quality of patient care and standards, and to look after NHS staff as a whole.
Becoming a Midwife
Posted by: | CommentsBecoming a midwife is one of the most rewarding careers that a person can have and offers more than just the chance to deliver babies. A midwife touches people’s lives and provides the opportunity to build excellent relationships with both the parents and children on the most wonderful days of their lifetime.
To enter a midwifery profession at degree level you will first need to obtain at least two A level qualifications or alternatively BTEC national diploma, NVQ level 3 and access to higher education programmes that may be run by colleges. Science subjects are preferred within qualifications.
The course that you choose to do will vary between three to four years and provide you with not only theoretical experience including modules such as biological sciences, sociology and psychology but it will also give you a chance to have close up practical familiarity with pregnant women and their families.
In addition to the qualifications that you will need, the role of midwife will also require some skills and qualities in order to be professional, and suited to your career. A midwifes traits are usually expected to be kind, caring, flexible, independent, objective, non-judgemental and a few others that most people naturally possess from a young age.
As Midwives are dedicated to provide constant attention and assistance to the women in their care this could mean that your shifts will range from day to night duty and will require the need to travel between various locations including between the hospital and home.
As far as salary goes, a newly qualified midwife’s salary starts at £19,166.00 a year and will increase along with the experience and role of the midwife which creeps up to £60,880 if the midwife promotes into a consultant position.
There are many useful skills that you will learn from your midwifery course and these are not only communication and people skills but also the ability to problem solve, working with multi-agency teams, clinical skills, study skills and assessing various evidence.
However you must remember that to practise as a midwife you must first be registered with the nursing and midwifery council who maintains an updated register of midwives. If you are practising than you must contact and notify your intentions to do so each year so that they have a continued update.
Midwifery courses aim to produce highly skilled midwives who are safe, experienced, independent practitioners able to take on the world of maternity care.
Plan Your Future With Proper Health Insurance
Posted by: | CommentsWith the rising cost of living the cost of medical expense has also gone up tremendously. With new and complicated diseases and their treatment the total cost to keep ourselves fit becomes huge. It is mostly not possible for a person with average income to bear such cost in an emergency. If you are sensible you will go for health insurance and save enough so that you have access to it during emergency. This is possible through health insurance policy. Through this policy you have an agreement between you and the insurance company to cover certain medical expenses during the time of necessity. Before purchasing any health insurance you should ask for free Health insurance quotes to find out the best plans for you.
Health insurances are of many types. You can have a plan through your employer or you can have a personal policy. The covered policy refers to where the insurance company pays for the drugs and tests that you get done. A list is made in which it is clearly stated as to which types of drugs and tests the company will pay for. The rest of the things which you require to pay for will not be covered by the company. When you have a personal plan you pay for your medical expenses and the company will reimburse you according to the agreement of your health insurance policy.
The second type of health insurance plan is the managed care plan. This can be done through your employer or a group. Here a packaged plan is provided to give you the details of your coverage. You have to read the policy document carefully to know the benefits that are offered to you under the scheme. In group insurance everything works as a whole for the entire group. The policy includes a group of hospitals and physicians in its plan. The members are referred to only those doctors and hospitals when they are sick. Anything outside will have to be paid by the patient. The policy clearly lays down its terms and conditions in the beginning.
Most of the major health insurance companies cover a broad area and try to offer maximum benefit with low cost. It will also have provisions for covering accidental expenses and treatment cost needed for fatal illness. You have to read your policy in detail to know if it is covering all areas including prescribed drugs, maternity benfits, benefit for mental health treatment, etc.
It is important that before buying a policy, whether personal or managed care you should find out the rates and options offered by different companies. You can get health insurance quotes online from various companies from their own sites. There are many sites which put together the health insurance quotes of various compnies and their plans for you so that you can compare the rates without having to go through many sites and decide on the best plan.
You should consult people you know who have bought health insurance policy and take their advice before accepting the health insurance quotes of any particular company. The best plan is the one which is reasonably flexible and offers large number of benefits at a lower cost. It is also important to find out the medical coverage law of your state and how it may affect your health insurance quote.
Breast Pain Problems
Posted by: | CommentsOne myth of breast cancer is that is does not hurt. Most of the time breast pain comes from non-cancer causes, such as hormonal changes. With IBC there is pain involved more so than other types of breast cancer.
Breast problems in women include a variety of benign and malignant disorders. Breast pain, nipple discharge and a solid mass are the most common breast problems about which every woman must be aware.
Breast pain is very common – perhaps all women have it at some time. It is common to have painful, heavy, swollen breasts before a menstrual cycle. Both breasts get affected at the same time and one may feel some kind of discomfort in the armpit or upper arm. In some women, the pain is so severe that they might have to have to wear a bra at night. The problem usually starts in the 20s and 30s, and ends by menopause.
Breast tenderness occurs due to the many changes which your breasts undergo during your pregnancy. Your breasts begin to grow and change in preparation to feeding your baby. Your breasts are growing and the breast skin is stretching (which may cause stretch marks and sagginess). During your first pregnancy your breasts may grow up to two cup sizes. You may feel itching all over your breasts and a great sensitivity in your nipples.
Daily massage can help ease the breast pain by increasing the circulation to your breasts. Here is how you do it. Place your hands on your breasts with your fingers spread and your nipples in your palms. Squeeze and release your fingers as you massage the circumstances of your breasts.
A nursing mother should wear a supportive maternity bra. Bras support the breast and make women feel comfortable. To other women instead of feeling pain in her breast, they complain of abdominal pain which is due to the contractions of the uterus. These pains come on when the baby starts to suckle. Suckling can thus help to reduce uterus back to its normal size, known as involution.
Chinese Herbal Therapy In a study done at Penn State University, a daily dose of garlic was shown to minimize the incidence of breast cancer in mice injected with the carcinogen. In fact, breast cancer affected 90 percent of the rats fed a normal (non-garlic) diet, while only 35 percent of the mice who ate garlic for 2 weeks before and after the injection contracted the disease.
No one knows exactly what causes breast cancer, but we do know that certain risk factors – things that increase a person’s chance of getting a disease – are linked to breast cancer. Risk factors change depending on the type of cancer. There are a number of risk factors, both controllable and uncontrollable, which may increase the chances of developing breast cancer.
Cancer of the breast can also represent itself as a metastatic disease meaning that it can spread to other areas in the body. The common places it spreads to are the bones, the liver, the lungs and the brain. Rapid unexpected weight loss can be another symptom of this type of cancer, as well as chills bone and joint pain.
How soon did you start wearing maternity clothes with baby #2?
Posted by: | CommentsI am now 13 weeks pregnant with my second baby and I’m about the same size that I was at five months with my first baby! I know that you pop out faster with a second pregnancy, but this fast? I think I have to get my maternity clothes out!
How can I tell if my maternity clock is really ticking?
Posted by: | CommentsYou know how they say your maternity clock is ticking, if you want a child?
Well how do you know? Is it more than simply the urge to be a mommy?
What can you do if yours IS ticking, but you’re only 20 and single, and don’t want kids til you are established somewhat in your career?
Hmm…well apparently I had this a little mixed up lol I suppose what I really meant to ask was, more along the lines of…should at 20 I be already wanting children like crazy?! lol
I am not worried about the time running out, maybe the clock as someone mentioned, just had the batteries put in? lol
I know I could handle kids for sure, I love them and was a live-in full time nanny for half a year with a nearly two year old boy.
I also have worked briefly in a private daycare.
So I know I can handle all of that, its natural for me, but I am wondering if 20 is the average age or so for women to start desiring children seriously lol
